Inflation Frustration
by Waffled Flambe
Summary: We are all victims of it everyday. It has become a part of our lives. Inflation. But none of us have reacted to it quite like Monique…


**A/N:** This story is based on a personal experience, and even though I did not react as dramatically as Monique did (at least not in the store), I am still very upset about the ordeal.

**Summary:** We are all victims of it everyday. It has become a part of our lives. _Inflation._ But none of us have reacted to it quite like Monique…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Disney. If I did, I probably would not be writing this.

And don't worry, the second chapter Deep, Meaningful Questions is still in progress…sort of. I just had to get this out of my system.

_**Inflation Frustration**_

"Hey," Monique asked Kim and Ron in front of the school, "You guys up for Bueno Nacho?"

"Count me in," Kim agreed. The girls looked at Ron.

"Do you even have to ask?" he said.

"Great," Monique said. "Are ya'll rollin'?" Blank stares. _If at first you don't succeed…_ "You green?" Nope. She sighed and finally said, "Do you have any money?"

"Oh! No, I'm not getting allowance till Friday," Kim sighed. "What about you, Ron?"

"Let's see," he said, digging into his pockets. He pulled out a slip of paper and read out loud, "'I owe myself 17 dollars'. Great."

"How much you got, Mon'?" Kim asked.

Monique mentally calculated the amount of money in brown leather wallet. "Um…25."

Kim and Ron instantly perked up. "25 dollars?"

"25 cents."

"Oh."

"Well, since all of us are broke, I guess I'll head on home," Ron said, strolling down the stairs.

"Wait, wait, wait, my brother," Monique said, grabbing his arm. "_Never_ underestimate the possibilities of 25 cents."

"Which are…"

Monique smirked. "Follow me and I'll show you. There's a new corner store that just opened on my block and I've been dying to try it out. Let's roll." She started walking towards the street, and Kim and Ron, having nothing better to do that afternoon, followed.

That was their big mistake.

The redhead and the blonde were waiting outside the corner store when a shrill "WHAT!" came from inside.

Ron looked at Kim and said, "That did not sound good."

A familiar determined look came upon Kim's face as she said, "I'm going in."

"Good luck," said Ron, right before Kim dragged him in after her. They took in the scene at once-Monique with her palms firm on the counter, next to pieces of unidentifiable candy; several customers with their hands over their ears at the sudden outburst; and finally, something they hadn't seen in the few seconds given to review the situation-Monique trembling with a rage that neither teen had seen on her before.

Needless to say, they were afraid.

"Repeat yourself?" Monique said between gritted teeth.

The shopkeeper sighed, not at all intimidated by the young girl's demeanor. He rang up the items once more. "Is 75 cents."

"You mean to tell me that _3_ Laffy Taffies and _2_ pieces of caramel cost 75 CENTS!"

"Yes, yes." His "third world country" accent could not hide his exasperation. "Is no problem, is all right."

Monique began laughing a malicious laugh, causing a couple of customers to slink out from fear. "No, no, nonononononononoNO! I don't-I don't-" now came the stammering- "I don't THINK. SO! This is 'all right' by a long shot! How is it that at every other corner store in AMERICA you can get the same candy for 25 CENTS but here, all of a sudden, it's 75 CENTS? Tell me-nonono, go ahead. En_lighten me._"

Monique was starting to sound _a lot_ like Dementor.

The man picked up a blueberry Laffy Taffy from the pile. "Eh, cost 15 cents."

By the look of Monique's face, you would've thought she was in the middle of a heart attack. "Fif-fifte-f-f-f-FIFTEEN CENTS! no, No, NO! That can_not_ be! This is an OUTRAGE!"

At this point, Kim decided to intervene by grasping Monique's shoulder. "Monique, I think we should head ho-" Her sentence was cut short as her enraged friend threw her onto the tiled floor.

"I am not going home until JUSTICE IS SERVED!"

"Is not me!" the man insisted. "Is inflation."

Monique peered at him. "In-who?"

"Inflation," Kim recited from memory. "A persistent increase in the level of consumer

prices or a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase

in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods and services."

Everyone stared at her. "Did I ask you?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Um, sorry?"

Monique turned her attention back to the man behind the counter. "So this…_inflation_ is what caused the increase of the candy?" A swift nod was her reply.

If anyone expected Monique to back down and accept this fact of life, they were sadly mistaken.

Slowly, she turned to face the poor souls that didn't run when they had the chance. "And you all _allow_ this to happen? People, look around and wake up! Everything is changing!" She grabbed a piece of Laffy Taffy that was still on the counter and waved it around. "Is this what our lives have become? If I find a nickel on the street, I can't use it to buy one of these?" She threw it on the floor in disgust and hopped onto the counter. "Fellow citizens of America, we must unite! We must not allow ourselves to be manipulated by this iniquity! We can't get things for the same price as we could last year-look." She waved a hand over the cents items display. "Sunflower seeds-used to be a quarter. Now it's THIRTY CENTS! Same with gum! Now tell me, what the heck are they going to do with FIVE EXTRA CENTS? HUH? HUH? General candy-fifty cents. Now it's SIXTY CENTS! No, I refuse to succumb to these, these _changes_, if you can even call them that. I have a dream, where I will be able to go to the store and use the smallest amount of coins necessary to get what I want! I have a dream, where when I pay with a dollar, I get my change in the smallest amount of change possible! I have a dream, where all of my coins WILL! BE! QUARTERS!"

"You can still get a bag of chips for a quarter," Kim noted.

Monique looked over at her friend and smiled sweetly-a sure sign she was going to go off. Again. "I _really_ wanna thank you for bringing that up, Kim. That's another thing I'm ticked off at. I'm am paying 25 CENTS supposedly for chips. Has anyone noticed that half the bag is air? Why the heck am I paying for air? WHY THE HECK AM I PAYING FOR AIR? I'm getting it for free right now! So in actuality, I should be paying 12 ½ cents BUT if you round it, that's 12 cents."

Kim looked confused. "Actually, that would be 13 cents, not-"

"You. No talking," Monique said firmly. Then she continued, "And nobody likes to deal with pennies, so let's round it further to 10 cents. I'm saving 15 FREAKING CENTS RIGHT THERE!" In her great zeal (and necessity for emphasis), she reached over, grabbed a bag of Doritos (Double Cheese!), and stomped on it with her heel.

"Hey, you're paying for that!"

Monique dug into her purse and threw down a dime.

"15 more, 15 more."

Honestly, was he even listening?

Monique's eyes narrowed and she turned around to face the man behind her. "Try and make me, cause I sure as heck ain't paying for air." Then she turned back to the people, who were still too stunned to move. "SAY IT WITH ME PEOPLE! ALL THESE CENTS DON'T MAKE NO SENSE! ALL THESE CENTS DON'T MAKE NO SENSE!

The man sighed as his forefinger hovered above the 'Security' button. "Please, don't make me do this. Just pay and go."

In response, Monique leaped down and knocked over several displays.

"What's the sitch, Hobble? Dear God, that girl is rubbing off on me."

"Heh. That tends to happen around her. Anyway, we've got a code 937 on the corner of Evergreen and Main Street. You nearby?"

"I'm on my way."

"Omigosh, is she all right?" Monique's mother rushed into the police station, a blur of soft lavender. "What happened?"

"I'm afraid your daughter got herself into some trouble this afternoon…" answered an officer.

The older woman peered into the cell he was pointing to, wherein sat her only daughter shivering on a bench, keeping as far away as possible from an inmate covered with tattoos.

Five minutes later, she was dragging her only daughter by her ear out of the station. "What have we said about protesting things we can't do anything about in highly populated places?"

"Don't."

**Guess what everyone? I submitted this at exactly midnight (at least, according to my digital clock) so I have the first story on for 2006! Happy New Year, everyone. Don't drink and drive. **


End file.
